Electronically controlled camera including automatic shutter speed changing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An electronically controlled camera having a zoom function for changing a focal length of a taking lens and a manual function which is able to select the shutter speed by the manual operation when the camera is in a manual mode, shutter speed automatic changing apparatus automatically changes the shutter speed in the direction for reducing the changing amount of the Full-open Aperture F-number which is changed in accordance with the change of the focal length so that the exposure value becomes a predetermined value in accordance with the reference shutter speed at a time when said reference shutter speed is selected in the manual mode and said focal length is changed by said zoom function.

This is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 07/374,346, filed on June 30, 1989, now abandoned, and entitled"Electronically Controlled Camera Having Macro and Normal OperationalModes", which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an improvement for an electronicallycontrolled camera having a zoom function for changing a focal length ofa taking lens and a manual function that is able to select the shutterspeed of the camera by a manual operation when the camera is in a manualmode.

PRIOR ART OF THE INVENTION

In recent times, an electronically controlled camera, which has a modebutton for changing the mode of the camera, and which displays a modemark showing a mode established by the mode button on a display portion,has been developed.

A camera of this type is designed such that a picture can be taken undervarious types of exposure modes and taking modes. This ability is verydesirable.

One known electronically controlled camera has a zoom function and amanual function. In this electronically controlled camera, if the focallength is changed with the zoom mode after a reference shutter speed hasbeen selected in the manual operation, a Full-open Aperture F-number ischanged in accordance with the change of the focal length, and theexposure value corresponding to the reference shutter speed is changedin accordance with the change of the Full-open Aperture F-number.Therefore, in such an electronically controlled camera, even if anexposure value is established at a certain focal length by selecting thereference shutter speed through the manual operation, once the focallength is changed by a zoom operation, the exposure value correspondingto the reference shutter speed is changed. As a result, photographhaving an intended brightness is unobtainable.

When photographs are taken by frequently changing the focal length, itis necessary to change the shutter speed every time the focal length ischanged in order to obtain photographs of an intended brightness.However, it is almost impossible to realize this when a combination of amanual shutter speed with a taking lens is taken into consideration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronicallycontrolled camera in which even if the focal length is changed laterchanged by a zoom operation after the manual shutter speed has beenselected in a manual mode, the shutter speed is automatically changed ina direction for reducing the changing amount of a Full-open ApertureF-number in the zoom mode so that the exposure value becomes apredetermined value corresponding to the reference shutter speedselected by the manual mode, thereby enabling one to obtain a photographhaving an intended desired brightness.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of a shutter speedautomatic changing apparatus for automatically changing the shutterspeed in the direction for reducing the changing amount of the Full-openAperture F-number which is changed in accordance with the change of thefocal length so that the exposure value becomes a predetermined value inaccordance with the reference shutter speed at a time when the referenceshutter speed is selected in the manual mode and the focal length ischanged by the zoom function.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a camera;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the camera;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the camera;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control circuit;

FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the construction of a contact of a zoomswitch;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a zoom motor system;

FIG. 7 is a developed view of a code plate showing the correspondingrelation between the code plate and each code;

FIG. 8 is a view for explaining a mode setting;

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining a segment displayed on an LCD;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a RESET Program;

FIGS. 11, 13, 14 and 15 are flowcharts showing a MAIN Operation;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a ZOOM INITIALIZATION subroutine;

FIGS. 17 and 18 are flowcharts showing a CODE CHECK subroutine;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a ZOOM REVERSE Operation;

FIG. 20 is a view for explaining a zooming action

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a ZOOM FORWARD Operation;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a ZOOM TO TELE Operation;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a ZOOM TO WIDE Operation;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a LOCK Operation;

FIG. 25 comprising FIGS. 25A and FIG. 25B and FIG. 26 comprising FIGS.26A and 26B are flowcharts showing a MODE SETTING Operation;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a MANUAL SHUTTER TIME OR INTERVAL TIMEDISPLAYING Operation;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing a BLINK TIME DISPLAYING Operation;

FIG. 29 comprising FIGS. 29A and 29B, FIG. 30 comprising FIGS. 30A and30B are flowcharts showing an AEAF(AUTO EXPOSURE and AUTO FOCUS) CONTROLOperation;

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing all (LENS LATCH) CALCULATION subroutine;

FIG. 33 comprising FIGS. 33A and 33B is a flowchart showing an AE(AUTOEXPOSURE CALCULATION) subroutine;

FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing a FM(FLASH MATIC CALCULATION) subroutine;

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing a CHARGE Operation;

FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing MANUAL SHUTTER TIME COUNT Operation;

FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing WIND Operation;

FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing an INTERVAL CONTROL Operation;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In FIGS. 1-38, an embodiment of a camera constructed according to thepresent invention is illustrated.

A camera body 1 has a stationary barrel 2 and a moving barrel 3, asshown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the front of the camera body 1contains a distance measurement section 4, a finder window 5, a strobe6, a photometric element, such as a CdS (not numbered), and self-timerlamp 7. The back of the camera body 1, as shown in FIG. 3, contains aback cover 8, an LCD indicator 9, a first mode button A, a second modebutton B, a clear button C, a zoom lever 10, a green lamp indicator(LED) D, a red lamp indicator (LED) E, a back cover release lever 11, adate display section 12 and a date switch 13.

When the back cover release lever 11 is moved from an upward stopposition to a downward stop position, the back cover 8 opens. When theback cover 8 is opened, the back cover release lever 11 is in thedownward stop position, while when the back cover 8 is closed, the backcover release lever 11 returns to its upward stop position.

A rewind button (not shown), is located on the bottom of the camera body1.

The upper section of the camera body 1, as shown in FIG. 1, contains alock lever 14, a shutter button 15 and a macro button 16. Lock lever 14is slidable between an ON and OFF position.

Zoom lever 10 can be moved in a first (normal) direction, as indicatedby arrow r1 in FIG. 1 and a second (reverse) direction, as indicated byarrow r2. The zoom lever 10 permits the camera lens to be moved betweena wide extremity and a tele extremity. The zoom lever 10 is used tochange both the manual shutter time and interval time, as will bediscussed below. The light projecting angle of the strobe 6 is changedaccording to an angle of view which is changed by zooming of the takinglens.

The camera contains a control circuit comprising a main CPU, to which asub CPU is connected which performs shutter-related processing inassociation with a drive IC. A single custom integrated circuit has beendesigned which contains the main CPU, sub CPU, drive IC, autofocus ICand other electronics.

The main CPU performs the following functions in response to inputsignals provided in the camera:

(1) Control the zoom motor and a film motor via a motor drive circuit;

(2) Control the illumination and blinding of the green lamp indicator Dwhich provides distance measurement-related indication, a red lampindicator E which provides a strobe-related indication, and a self-timerlamp which provides a self-timer related indication;

(3) Control the indication on the LCD 9; and

(4) Control the charging of the stroke circuit.

Information is inputted to the main CPU by the following:

(1) Lock switch LOCK, which is set to ON when the lock lever 14 is setin its ON Position;

(2) Photometry switch SWS, which is set to ON when the shutter button 15is depressed halfway;

(3) Release switch SWR, which is set to ON when the shutter button 15 isfully depressed;

(4) MACRO switch MCRO, which is set to ON when the macro button 16 isdepressed;

(5) Zoom tele switch TELE, which is set to ON when the zoom lever 10 isdisplaced from a center, neutral position toward a tele side r2;

(6) Zoom wide switch WIDE, which is set to ON when the zoom lever 10 isdisplaced from a center, neutral position towards a wide side r1;

(7) Speed switch ZMHL, which is set to ON when the angle of the zoomlever 10 is displaced a small amount from the center, neutral positionand is set to OFF when the zoom lever 10 is displaced from the center,neutral position by a large amount;

(8) Mode A switch MDA, mode B switch MDB and clear switch MDC, which areset to ON when the mode buttons A, B, C, respectively, are depressed;

(9) DX contact point, which reads a DX code printed on a filmpatron(cartridge).

(10) Zoom code inputs ZC0, CZ1, and ZC2, which are discussed in detailbelow;

(11) Back cover switch BACK, which is set to OFF when the back coverrelease lever 11 is pressed down and set to ON when the back cover 8 isclosed and the lever returns to its lock position; and

(12) Rewind switch REW, which is set to ON when the rewind button ispressed.

Three zoom-related switches TELE, WIDE and ZMHL are controlled by onezoom lever, the contact point layout being shown in FIG. 5. With thesecombinations, five conditions are inputted to the main CPU. The data isused for the zoom operation or mode setting. For example, whenperforming the zoom operation, the information for the normal or reversespeed is inputted to the main CPU.

The sub CPU controls the range finder, which comprises the infrared LEDand position sensor PSD via an autofocus IC. The sub CPU transfers thedistance measurement data from the autofocus IC and photometry data(according to the CdS) to the main CPU.

The drive IC controls the shutter circuit according to commands from thesub CPU and outputs a trigger signal to the strobe circuit.

Referring to FIG. 6, the main CPU outputs commands for the normal orreverse rotation of the zoom motor via four signal lines (MP1, MP2, MN1and MN2) to the motor drive circuit.

A motor power control circuit, which supplies power to the motor drivecircuit, switches between a high and low supply voltage according to thespeed command input from the main CPU via signal line MCNT when MCNT isOFF, the battery voltage is supplied directly to the zoom motor drivecircuit while, when MCNT is ON, the battery voltage is supplied afterlowering the voltage to a specified value.

The details of these commands are shown in Table 1 below.

The zoom motor lets the focal length of a lens change to the teleextremity by shifting the moving barrel 3 in a direction so that itprotrudes from the camera body via the cam ring when the normal rotationis executed. When the reverse rotation is executed, it lets the focallength of the taking lens change to the wide extremity by operating themoving barrel 3 in a reverse direction.

For this camera, the information which is indicative of the change inthe focal length of the taking lens, changes by Fmin (Full-Open ApertureF-number) according to the change of the lens in the wide extremity,tele extremity, macro position, or lock position, etc., is automaticallydetected and each kind of controls are performed according to thisinformation.

For this purpose, a code plate is attached to the surface of the camring of the lens and four brushes (ZC0, ZC1, ZC2, GND) contact the codeplate. GND is a common terminal while the other three brushes are usedfor code detection.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram of the code plate and each code produced whenterminals ZC0, ZC1 and ZC2 are in contact with a continuity portion(also known as "traces") of the code plate shown by the oblique lines inthe figure, wherein a signal "0" indicates a portion of the conductivetrace is removed, while a signal of "1" indicates a portion of theconductive trace is not removed. In this description, a three-bitinformation code detected by the continuity relation between theseterminals is known as a zoom code ZCODE.

A position code POS and division code DIV are defined according to theabove-mentioned zoom code so as to control zooming.

The position code POS is used to distinguish five conditions of thetaking lens in the position between the wide extremity and the lockposition, the position of the wide extremity or tele extremity in thezoom area, and the position between the tele extremity and the macroposition. The division code DIV is used to identify the lens position bydividing the zoom range into fourteen areas.

In FIG. 7, the portion where POS equals "1" and "3" is shown with afixed width. POS equaling "1" is obtained when the lens is set to thewide extremity, namely, only at the moment that ZC1 is set from 1 to 0(from OFF to ON). When the lens does not stop at the wide extremity, POSis switched from "0" to "2".

The lens is forbidden to stop in the area between the lock position andzoom area, as well as in the area between the zone area and macroextremity. However, when a terminal which is properly ON is detected asOFF, due to a bad contact between one brush and the code plate, the zoommotor may possibly stop in the forbidden area. Therefore, the code plateand software are constructed so that the change from OFF to ON of thespecified terminals are used when detecting these borders. If thisconfiguration is used, stopping in the forbidden area can be avoided,even if a brush floats because the terminal is OFF.

On the other hand, On the zoom area, fourteen divisions are used for thefocal length of the lens, as mentioned above. In addition, terminal ZC2is used to detect the tele extremity in the zoom area.

Thus, it is necessary to divide thirteen steps by two bits. In thisexample, the relative code configuration which is employed uses zoomcodes ZCODE "4", "5", ""6", or "7", respectively, to correspond todivision codes DIV of "1H"-"EH".

When this configuration is used, it is impossible to uniquely specify adivision code that corresponds to the focal length of the lens only bythe use of the zoom code ZCODE. Therefore, the division code is fixed bysuccessively rewriting the division code stored in memory as changes inthe zoom code from the end points are detected.

The function of the mode buttons A and B will now be explained. Modebutton A is provided with the function of setting the exposure mode. Theexposure mode includes an auto mode (automatic strobe emission mode),strobe ON mode (forced strobe emission mode), strobe OFF mode (strobeemission forbidding mode), exposure compensation mode, bulb mode, andbulb and strobe ON mode. In this specification, "bulb mode" includes"manual shutter mode".

In FIG. 8, the indication marks corresponding to each exposure mode areshown. In the auto mode, no indication is shown, to "0" corresponds toauto, "1" corresponds to strobe ON, "2" corresponds to strobe OFF, "3"corresponds to an exposure correction, "4" corresponds to bulb, and "5"corresponds to bulb and strobe. When the mode button A is operated, thesetting is changed.

The mode button B functions to select the taking mode. Six kinds oftaking modes are available: one-frame photographing, continuousphotographing, self-timer, double self-timer, multi-photographing, andinterval photography. The indication marks corresponding to each takingmode is shown in FIG. 8. However, for one-frame photographing, noindication is shown. MODE B is prepared to correspond to the takingmode, wherein "0" corresponds to one-frame photographing, "1"corresponds to continuous photographing, "2" corresponds to self-timer,"3" corresponds to double self-timer, "4" corresponds tomulti-photographing and "5" corresponds to interval photography.

When mode button B is operated, the setting of MODE B is changed. TheLCD indication is shown according to the contents of MODE A and B, theindication of the controls for photographing are also shown according tothese contents as well.

For the bulb or the bulb and strobe ON taking mode, the manual shuttertime shown in Table 2 is prepared. Eight kinds of manual shutter speedsare available and one, MODBLB is prepared for these eight kinds ofmanual shutter speeds. "0" corresponds to bulb, while "1" to "7"corresponding to each manual shutter speed from 1 to 60 sec. Thecontents of MODBLB are changed in the mode setting flow mentioned belowby operating zoom lever 10 in the condition that mode button A is keptpressed after changing to the bulb or the bulb and strobe ON mode bypressing mode button A. Also, it is changed by again pressing modebutton A and operating zoom lever 10 when the manual shutter speed isnot shown in the bulb or the bulb and strobe ON mode.

For the interval taking mode, the interval time shown in Table 3 isprepared. Sixteen interval times are permitted; one mode interval valueMODINT being provided for each of the sixteen interval times. "0" to"15" correspond to each time interval from 10 seconds to 60 minutes. Thecontents of MODINT are changed by operating the zoom lever 10 so thatthe mode button B is kept pressed after changing to the interval mode bypressing the mode button B. These are also changed by pressing the modebutton B and operating the zoom lever 10 when the interval time is notshown in the interval mode. The initial value of the MODBLB is equal to"0" corresponding to the bulb, while the initial value of the MODINT is"5", corresponding to 60 seconds. These initial values are automaticallyset by setting the mode initialization or the clear button to ON.

The details of the LCD indicator 9 are explained with reference to FIG.9. The mode marks for mode button A and B are shown in each indicationarea according to each mode. As the meaning of each mark has alreadybeen explained, the remaining marks are described below.

FIG. 9 illustrates that the LCD indicator 9 contains a shutter buttonmark 17, a macro mark 18, a zoom lever mark 19, a battery mark 17, amacro mark 18, a zoom lever mark 21. The unit mark "mm" is illuminatedwhen the focal length of the zoom lens is displaced; the unit marks "M"or "S" are displayed when the manual shutter speed and interval time aredisplayed; and the unit mark "EX" is displayed when showing the framenumber of the film.

Shutter button mark 17 is shown when the shutter button 15 is operable.Macro mark 18 is displayed when macro photography is possible, afterhaving pressed the macro button 16 to make the taking lens move to themacro extremity. The macro mark blinks when it is necessary to switch tothe zoom photographing position in response to a distance measurement.Zoom lever mark 19 is continuously illuminated or blinking when the zoomlever 10 is activated, while the battery mark 20 lights when the camerabattery is discharged. The seven-segment display section 21 indicatesthe frame number of the film, the focal length of the lens, the manualshutter speed or the interval time for taking pictures. With respect tothe unit marks, "M" indicates minutes while "S" indicates seconds. "M"or "S" corresponds to the time set for the manual shutter speed orinterval time.

The program stored in the main CPU will now be described with referenceto FIGS. 10 to 38. The letter "S" denoted in the FIGS. are representedin the following text by the use of the word "step".

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                                      MCNT  MP1    MP2    MN1  MN2                                    ______________________________________                                        MOTOR HIGH SPEED        ON               ON                                   NORMAL ROTATION                                                               MOTOR HIGH SPEED               ON   ON                                        REVERSE ROTATION                                                              MOTOR LOW SPEED ON      ON               ON                                   NORMAL ROTATION                                                               MOTOR LOW SPEED ON             ON   ON                                        REVERSE ROTATION                                                              MOTOR BRAKE                         ON   ON                                   ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 2                                                         ______________________________________                                        MANUAL SHUTTER TIME  MODBLB                                                   ______________________________________                                                    BULB         0                                                    1           SECOND       1                                                    2           SECONDS      2                                                    4           SECONDS      3                                                    8           SECONDS      4                                                    15          SECONDS      5                                                    30          SECONDS      6                                                    60          SECONDS      7                                                    ______________________________________                                    

                  TABLE 3                                                         ______________________________________                                        INTERVAL TIME    MODINT                                                       ______________________________________                                        10        SECONDS    0                                                        20        SECONDS    1                                                        30        SECONDS    2                                                        40        SECONDS    3                                                        50        SECONDS    4                                                        60        SECONDS    5                                                        2         MINUTES    6                                                        3         MINUTES    7                                                        4         MINUTES    8                                                        5         MINUTES    9                                                        10        MINUTES    10                                                       20        MINUTES    11                                                       30        MINUTES    12                                                       40        MINUTES    13                                                       50        MINUTES    14                                                       60        MINUTES    15                                                       ______________________________________                                    

RESET Program and MAIN Operation

The RESET program and associated MAIN operation will be described first,with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. The MAIN operation describes thebasic operation of the camera. Other functions are performed bybranching from or being controlled from the MAIN operation according tovarious conditions.

When power is turned ON, the main CPU is reset and the processing shownin FIG. 10 starts. The main CPU initializes the camera memory and inputsswitch data (steps RS1 and RS2) before performing a MODE INITIALIZATIONsubroutine in step RS3 and a ZOOM INITIALIZATION subroutine (shown inFIG. 16) in step RS4. Then, processing diverges to a series ofinstructions that comprise the MAIN operation, shown in FIG. 11. TheMODE INITIALIZATION Subroutine resets various mode settings to initialvalues to set the automatic strobe emission and one-frame taking mode.

In the MAIN operation, a 1-second timer, used for an indication hold, iscleared in step MI1.

In steps MI2 to MI4, the photometry switch SWS, release switch SWR, wideswitch WIDE, tele switch TELE, mode switch MDA, mode switch MDB clearswitch MDC and macro switch MCRO are set to OFF and switch judgment flagFSWOFF is set to 1.

In steps MI5 to MI8, when the photometry switch SWS, release switch SWR,wide switch WIDE and tele switch TELE are set to OFF And a forbiddenphotographing combination mode is not selected, the photometry switcheffective flag FSWSEN is set to 1. When some of the switches are set toON, or a forbidden combination mode is set, a value of 0 is set in flagFSWSEN.

In step MI9, the status of each of the above-mentioned switches areinputted and processing is executed according to the inputted switchdata.

When rewind switch REW is judged to be ON (step MI10), the MODEINITIALIZATION subroutine is performed (step MI11). A LOOP ESCAPEsubroutine, shown in FIG. 12, is then executed in step MI12. Thissubroutine comprises two steps, of which step L01 stops the charging ofthe strobe circuit and step L02 turns OFF the red lamp charge indicationbefore other processing branches from the MAIN operation.

When the LOOP ESCAPE subroutine is completed, the MAIN operationdiverges to a series of instructions that comprise a REWIND operation.When the REWIND operation has completed rewinding the film in thecamera, a rewind complete flag FREWEND is set to 1 and processing isadvanced by jumping to the beginning of the main operation.

When the back cover 8 is closed (turning ON back switch BACK), step MI14is performed to determine whether the film has finished loading. This isperformed by checking flag FLDEND. If the film has not finished loading,the flag is set to 0, and processing continues to step MI15, wherein theMODE INITIALIZATION subroutine is performed once more. Then, at stepMI16, the LOOP ESCAPE subroutines performed so as diverge to a series ofinstructions that comprise a LOADING operation. When the LOADINGoperation has finished loading the film, flag FLDEND is set to 1 andprocessing goes to step MI19. Thus, the next time step MI13 is executed,the program will proceed to step MI17 because FLDEND will be set to 1.

When the back cover 8 is open, both FLDEND and FREWEND are reset to 0(steps MI17 and MI18). In steps MI19 to MI24 (FIG. 13), a determinationis made as to whether lock switch LOCK has been turned ON from its OFFposition. That is, a test is made to see if the lock lever has beenswitched from the OFF position to the ON position. If the lens is not inthe lock position, according to the lock position flag FLOCK, thedisplay changes from indicating the film frame number to indicating thefocal length of the lens (step MI21). Then, the LOOP ESCAPE subroutine(step MI22) is executed, as described above. Thereafter, processingdiverges to a series of instructions that comprise a ZOOM REVERSEOperation, shown FIG. 19 and to be discussed below, so that the lens ispulled back to the lock position.

When the lens is already in the lock position and the REWIND operationhas not finished, processing goes to step MI24 so as to execute the LOOPESCAPE subroutine so that processing can diverge to a series ofinstructions that comprise a LOCK operation (FIG. 24). If the REWINDoperation has finished, processing is advanced by jumping to step MI56,shown in FIG. 15.

When the lock switch LOCK is in the OFF position and the lens ispositioned between the lock position and the wide extremity (i.e., POSequals "0"), as determined by steps MI19 and MI25, the focal length ofthe lens is indicated to the photographer (step MI26) for a period ofone second (step MI27) by setting an indication hold flag FWAITD to 1.Thereafter, macro command flag FRQMCR is set to 0 (step MI28) and theLOOP ESCAPE subroutine is performed (step MI29) so that processing candiverge to a series of instructions that comprise a ZOOM FORWARDoperation, shown in FIG. 21. In this operation, the zoom lens is movedat a normal rotation speed towards the wide extremity. Processing thenreturns to the MAIN OPERATION.

In step MI30, a determination is made as to whether the macro switchMCRO is ON. If it is ON, steps MI31-MI36 are performed so as to indicatethe focal length of the zoom lens and set the indication hold flagFWAITD to 1. A test is then made to determine whether the zoom lens isin the macro position by checking the condition of the macro positionflag FMCRO (step MI33). If it is in the macro position, the indicationhold timer is cleared (step MI34) and restarted. Processing thenadvances to step MI55, shown in FIG. 15. If the lens is not in the macroposition, the macro command flag FRQMCRO is set to 1 and processingdiverges to the ZOOM FORWARD subroutine at a normal rotation speed sothat the lens moves towards the macro extremity. After the ZOOM FORWARDsubroutine has completed its execution, processing returns to the MAINoperation.

If the macro switch MCRO is in the OFF position, steps MI37-MI43 (FIG.14) are performed to determine the setting of the tele switch TELE. Whenthe tele switch TELE is ON, an indication of the focal length of thelens is displayed to the operator. When the lens is not in the teleextremity (i.e., POS equals "3"), a test is performed to determine ifthe lens is between the tele extremity and the macro extremity (i.e.,POS equals "4") or the wide extremity (i.e., POS does not equal "4").When the lens is in the position between the tele extremity and the wideextremity in the zoom area, processing diverges to a series of stepsthat comprise a TELE SHIFT (ZOOM to TELE) operation, to be describedbelow, to move the lens to the tele extremity. If the lens is in theposition between the tele extremity and the macro extremity, processingdiverges to the ZOOM REVERSE operation so as to move the lens towardsthe tele extremity.

When the lens is already at the tele extremity (i.e., POS equals "3"),the display indication timer is cleared and one second count is startedagain.

In steps MI44-MI50, when the wide switch WIDE is ON, the display isswitched to indicate the focal length of the lens, set the indicationhold flag FWAITD to 1 and perform a test to determine if the lens is atthe wide extremity. If the lens is at the wide extremity, the displayindication timer is cleared and restarted (in step MI48). If the lensins not at the wide extremity, a test is made to determine whether thelens is in the wide extremity or the macro extremity (i.e., whether POSis equal to "4").

If the lens is in the wide extremity, processing branches to a WIDESHIFT (ZOOM to WIDE) Operation to move the lens to the wide extremity.If it is in the macro extremity, processing diverges to the ZOOM REVERSEoperation to move the zoom lens to the tele extremity. When the wideswitch WIDE is kept activated, even if the zoom lens reaches the teleextremity, processing diverges from the ZOOM REVERSE operation to aseries of instructions that comprise a WIDE operation as to continuouslymove the lens.

Therefore, when the macro switch is ON, the zoom lens is set to themacro position. Thus, to retract the lens from the macro position to thezoom area, the zoom lever should be moved from its center, neutralposition towards either r1 or r2.

Steps MI51-MI54 are provided to test macro tele shift flag FMTSIFT todetermine if it is necessary to shift the lens. If the flag is set to 1,the focal length of the lens is displayed (step MI52) and the indicationhold flag FWAITD is set to 1. Thereafter, processing diverges to theZOOM REVERSE operation to shift the lens to the tele extremity.

In the embodiment constructed according to this invention, the distancelimit for taking macro photographs is approximately 1 meter (m). Thus,when the lens is in the macro position and the distance measurementindicates a distance greater than 1 m, it is impossible to take anin-focus photograph when the shutter button is depressed. However, bysetting the release lock, the lens is controlled to be shifted to thetele extremity from the macro position.

The flag FMTSIFT is set in a LENS LATCH (LL) subroutine (shown in FIG.32) that is called by a series of steps that comprise an AUTOMATICEXPOSURE/AUTOMATIC FOCUS (AEAF) CONTROL subroutine, shown in FIG. 29 andto be discussed below, that diverges from the MAIN operation after stepMI65 is performed.

In step MI55, the condition of rewind complete flag FREWEND is examined.If the rewind operation has finished, step MI56 is performed to display"00 EX" on the LCD panel. If the rewind operation is not finished (asindicated by FREWIND being set to 0), a MODE SETTING subroutine isperformed (step MI57).

After the switch judgment flag FSWOFF has been set in steps MI2-M14, theMODE SETTING subroutine is executed only when all switches are set toOFF by the previous inputs.

If some switches are set to ON, the subroutine returns to the MAINoperation without changing any settings.

If there is a change in a mode setting, a mode change flag FMDCHG (stepMI58) is set to 1, while if there is no change it is set to 0.

When processing returns to the MAIN operation, the condition of flagFMDCHG is examined (step MI58). If there is a mode change, theindication hold flag is set to 1 in step MI59 before the program jumpsto the beginning of the MAIN operation.

When there are no changes, photometry switch SWS and photometry switcheffective flag FSWSEN are examined in steps MI61 and MI62. When thespecified conditions are satisfied, an indication of the focal length ofthe lens is displayed (steps MI63-MI65) and the indication hold flag iscleared. Processing then diverges to the AEAF CONTROL operation so as tocontrol the camera shutter.

In AEAF CONTROL operation is executed when the photometry switch SWS ischanged from OFF to ON, every switch data stored in each memory of theSWS, SWR, TELE and WIDE are OFF and the mode that allows a photograph tobe taken is set. That is, the AEAF CONTROL operation is performed onlywhen the SWS is switched from OFF to ON. Therefore, if the zoom lever isoperated, the MAIN operation continues without the AEAF CONTROLoperation being performed.

In step MI66, a CHARGE CONTROL subroutine, which controls the strobeflash circuit, is called. This subroutine causes an indication switch tobe set in steps MI67-MI71. The presently shown indication is displayedfor a period of one second. When the holding of the display indicationis not required, or one second has passed, the film frame number isre-displayed and the indication hold flag FWAITD is cleared. Thus, theindication of the film frame number is given preference over otherindications, unless the other data to be shown in only temporarilydisplayed.

After pausing for 125 ms at step MI72, a CHARGE PROHIBITING TIMEsubroutine is called. Processing then jumps to step MI2 (FIG. 11) torepeat the above outlined procedure.

Various subroutines and operations that are executed will now bediscussed.

ZOOM INITIALIZATION SUBROUTINE

FIG. 16 illustrates the flowchart of the ZOOM INITIALIZATION subroutinethat is called in step RS4 of the RESET program.

As mentioned above, the camera according to the present invention uses arelative code for the zoom code. Accordingly, when the camera battery isremoved and data in the memory is canceled, the camera cannot identifythe position of the lens. The ZOOM INITIALIZATION subroutine shifts thelens to the lock position in such a case.

First, a zoom code ZCODE is inputted in step ZI1, as determined by theterminal brushes that are contacting the code plate. A test is thenperformed to determine whether the lens is in the lock position (stepZI2). If the lens is not in the lock position, step ZI5 is performed toreversibly rotate the motor at a high speed. If the lens is in the lockposition, steps ZI3 and ZI4 are performed to rotate the zoom motor in aforward direction for 100 ms before going to step ZI5 and performing thehigh speed motor reverse instruction to bring the lens to the lockposition.

This subroutine results in the position code POS being set to "0", alock position flag FLOCK being set to 1 and the macro position flagFMCRO being set to 0 before the subroutine returns to the point fromwhich the subroutine was called.

CODE CHECK subroutine

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate the CODE CHECK subroutine.

As mentioned above, a relative code is employed for determining theposition of the zoom lens. However, it is impossible to specify oneposition code or division code which corresponds to the focal length ofthe length of the lens by only using the detected zoom code. Therefore,in the CODE CHECK subroutine, the position code POS and division codeDIV, which are stored in memory, are successively rewritten while thezoom code changes from the lock position (where the ZCODE equals "2") inwhich the zoom code is an absolute code, which is dynamically detected.

When this subroutine begins, data is inputted with respect to the lockswitch LOCK, macro switch MCRO, wide switch WIDE, tele switch TELE andspeed switch ZMHL (step CK1). When the CODE CHECK subroutine is calledby a ZOOM to TELE subroutine or a ZOOM TO WIDE subroutine, the inputtedswitch data is used after the processing of the subroutine is finished.

In steps CK2-CK5, when the position code POS shows that the lens is atthe wide extremity (POS equals "1") or the tele extremity (POS equals"3"), the position code POS is forcibly set to the codes that show thezoom area (POS equals "2") and the position between the tele extremityand macro position (POS equals "4"). Then, the zoom code ZCODE isinputted CK6. If there is no change in the value of the zoom code,processing returns to the point in the MAIN operation from which thissubroutine was called.

When there is a change in the value of the zoom code, the processingthat is performed depends upon the rotation direction of the zoom motor.If the motor rotates normally, processing advances from step CK8 to stepCK9, while if the motor rotates in a reverse direction, the processingadvances to step CK25 (shown in FIG. 18). The following explanationpertains to the normal rotation case. The position code POS will beeither "0, 2 or 4" after steps CK2-CK5 CK5 are performed.

When the lens is between the wide extremity and the lock position (POSequals "0"), processing continues to step CK10, until brush terminal ZC1is set to ON with respect to the code plate; that is, the lens is set tothe wide extremity. When ZC1 is ON, the position code POS is set to "1"and the division code DIV is set to "1_(H) " (step CK11) and, if thezoom motor rotates normally, zoom code value ZCFOW, which will be usedafter the next change (change predictor in the normal rotation of thezoom code), is set to a value of "4".

The change predictor is fixed, according to the table of FIG. 7. Whenthe lens is in the zoom area (that is, the position code POS equals"2"), processing advances from step CK12 to step CK13 to determinewhether the division code DIV is smaller than "2_(H) ". If DIV is largerthan "2H", a determination is made as to whether terminal ZC2 haschanged.

The ZC2 terminal becomes 1 when the zoom lens is rotated to where theposition code POS is equal to "2". That is, the ZC2 terminal is equal to0 only when the zoom lens approaches the CRITICAL TELE END or CRITICALWIDE END, as shown FIG. 7. The ZC2 terminal is always equal to 1 whenthe zoom lens is in the zoom range. Therefore, by examining the statusof the ZC2 terminal, it is possible to determine whether the zoom lensis at the tele extremity without performing step CK13.

However, it could happen that ZC2 becomes 0 and ZC1 becomes 1 because ofa structure error in the code plate. Therefore, a test is made in stepCK13 so that the tele extremity can be detected only by the signal ofthe ZC2 terminal, even if such an error occurs. When the tele extremityis detected, the position code POS is set to "3", while the divisioncode DIV is set to "E_(M) " (Steps CK15 and CK16). This change the LCDpanel to always indicate the tele extremity focal length (i.e., 70 mm)and the CODE CHECK subroutine is existed.

If the tele extremity has not been reached, the terminal brush ZC2 isconsidered to be equal to 1 (step CK17) and step CK18 is performed tocompare the zoom code ZCODE with the change predictor ZCFOW. When theyare the same, the division code DIV is counted and a new changepredictor is set in steps (CK19 to CK22. If the indication keep flag(indication change permission flag) FKPLCD is set to 0, the subroutineperforms the steps necessary to indicate the focal length of the lensthat corresponds to the new division code DIV and hen the CODE CHECKsubroutine is existed.

When steps CK9 and CK12 determine that POS is not equal to "0" or "2",it means that the lens is between the tele extremity and macro extremity(POS equals "4"). Thus, an examination is made of brush terminal ZC0, instep CK23, to determine if it is equal to 0. If it is equal to 0, themacro position flag FMCR0 is set to 1 in step CK24, macro command flagFRQMCR0 is cleared (that is, set to 0) and the CODE CHECK subroutinereturns.

When the zoom motor rotates in the reverse direction, the CODE CHECKsubroutine jumps from CK8 to step CK25 (shown in FIG. 18). When the zoomcode ZCODE being is equal to "2" representing the absolute code, thelens is in the lock position. In this case, step CK26 is executed tostop the rotation of the zoom motor. Then, POS is set to "0", while lockposition flag FLOCK is set to 1. Thereafter, processing jumps to thestart of the MAIN operation after CPU stack register processing hasoccurred (step CK28).

When the lens is in the position between the tele extremity and themacro extremity (POS equals "4"), processing advances from step CK29 tostep CK30. If terminal ZC1 is 1, control is returned to the point in theMAIN operation from which the CODE CHECK subroutine was called.

When the ZC1 terminal is 0, it means that the lens has entered the zoomarea. As a result, the position code POS is set to "2", the divisioncode DIV is set to "D_(H) " and change predictor ZCREV is set to a valueof "7" (step CK31).

Flag FKPLCD is then examined to determine if it is 1 or 0. If the flagis set to 1, the focal length of the lens is displayed (step CK33) onthe LCD panel to show the new value (i.e., 65 mm). If the flag is equalto 0, the focal length indication step is skipped. Regardless of whetherthe focal length of the lens is displayed or not, the next step is toreturn to the point from which the CODE CHECK subroutine was called.

If the position code POS is not equal to "4" in step CK29, processing isseparated into the case where the position code POS equals "2" and wherethe position code POS equals "0" (step CK34). When the lens is in theposition between the wide extremity and the lock position (POS equals"0"), the subroutine returns to the point from which it was called.

When the lens is in the zoom area where the position code POS equals"2", a judgment is made (in step CK36) as to whether terminal ZC2 is ON(that is, having a value of 0) or OFF (that is, having a value of 1) ifthe division code DIV was judged to be less than "B_(H) ". If theterminal ZC2 has a value of 0, the position code POS is set to "0"before judging whether the lens is in the position between the wideextremity and the lock position. The indication change is permitted whenflag FKPLCD is set to 0, so that the subroutine changes the focal lengthindication that is displayed on the LCD panel, prior to existing theCODE CHECK subroutine. If ZC2 is B₁, steps CK40 and CK41 are executed,in which the ZC2 terminal is set to a value of 1 and the zoom code ZCODEis compared to the predictor ZCREV to determine if they are equal toeach other.

When they are not the same, processing returns to the MAIN operation,while when they are equal to each other, steps CK42-CK45 are performed.In these steps, new change predictors ZCFOW and ZCREV are set bysubtracting 1 from the division code DIV. Then, if the value of theindication flag FKPLCD is 0 (in step CK44), the new focal length of thelens is displayed, prior to existing from the CODE CHECK subroutine. Ifthe value of the indication flag is 1, the focal length indication stepis skipped.

As mentioned above, the setting for the lock position, macro position,tele extremity and wide extremity is detected by the change from OFF (1)to ON (0) of the terminals ZC0, ZC1 and ZC2. With the above arrangement,detection errors due to bad contacts between the brushes and the codeplate are prevented. Thus, the situation in which the zoom motor stopsin a forbidden position is avoided.

ZOOM REVERSE Operation

FIG. 19 shows the flowchart for the ZOOM REVERSE ROTATION operation thatdiverges from the MAIN operation at steps MI22, MI50 and MI54. Thisoperation is executed to shift the lens to the lock position and shiftthe lens from the macro position to the zoom area. When the lens stopswithin the zoom range, a normal rotation operation takes place toprevent backlash. When the MAIN operation diverges to this operation, itis a first necessary (in steps ZR1 and ZR2) to clear the macro teleshift flag FMTSIFT and the macro position flag FMCR0 and set them to 0,prior to rotating the zoom motor in a reverse direction at a high rateof speed.

In step ZR3, the focal length of the lens is prevented from beingdisplayed by setting the indication keep flag FKPLKCD to 1. In steps ZR4and ZR5, the CODE CHECK subroutine (FIGS. 17 and 18) is called. Then, atest is performed to determined to determine whether the value of theposition code POS is greater than "2". If it is, meaning that the lensis positioned between the tele extremity and the macro extremity, theCODE CHECK subroutine is repeated.

When the position code is determined not to be greater than "2_(H) ",meaning that the lens is between the tele extremity and the zoom area orthe lens has entered the zoom area, step ZR6 is performed to determineif this lock switch LOCK is ON or OFF. When the lock switch is ON, theindication keep flag FKPLCD is cleared in step ZR7. In step ZR8-ZR13,the zoom motor is rotated in a reverse direction until the lens reachesthe lock position or the lock switch is set to OFF. When it reaches thelock position, the motor is stopped. The subroutine then jumps to thebeginning of the MAIN operation. This movement is shown by character "a"in FIG. 20.

When the lock switch is set to OFF before the lens moves to the wideextremity (due to the reverse rotation of the zoom motor), the zoommotor is reversibly rotated for a period of 70 ms (ZR15) from when thelock switch was set to OFF. The zoom lens is then rotated in a forwarddirection at a high rate of speed for a period of 50 ms. If the lens isin the zoom area, it is stopped (as shown by character "b" in FIG. 20).If the lens is between the wide extremity and the lock position afterthe normal rotation, the motor is kept rotating to the wide extremityand is stopped after the lens is at the wide extremity (shown bycharacter "c" in FIG. 20). In either case, processing jumps to the headof the MAIN operation after the focal length of the lens is displayed.

On the other hand, if the lock switch has been set to OFF beforehand,processing advances from step ZR6 to step ZR24. If the wide switch isset to ON, processing advances to a series of steps that comprise aJPWIDE operation. This operation is essentially equivalent to a ZOOM toWIDE operation (shown in FIG. 23 and which will be discussed below)without the zoom motor initially being rotated in a reverse direction ata high speed. If the lock switch is set to OFF, steps ZR25-ZR30 areperformed, wherein the zoom motor is rotated in the forward direction ata high rate of speed after a delay of 50 ms has passed from the timewhen the lens has entered the zoom area to set the lens to the teleextremity. Then, processing jumps to the MAIN operation (as shown bycharacter "d" in FIG. 20).

In the ZOOM REVERSE subroutine, when the reverse rotation processing isswitched over from terminal "STOPWD" for the wide movement processing,to remove backlash, the motor is rotated in the forward direction for 50ms after the motor has stopped its reverse rotation. Therefore, if thefocal length indication is not prevented from being displayed, theindication of the short focal length is changed just when the lensenters the division code DIV area of the wide extremity. Then, theindication of the focal length of the lens may be shown when the lensenters the division code DIV area of the tele extremity by reversing therotation. Such an indication change may give the photographer theimpression that the shifting of the lens has malfunctioned by shiftingto the tele extremity, in spite of the fact that it is supposed toswitch the focal length of the wide extremity.

Therefore, the indication keep flag FKPLCD is set to temporarily preventthe focal length changes from being displayed until the time when thezoom motor stops.

ZOOM FORWARD Operation

FIG. 21 is the flowchart showing the ZOOM FORWARD operation. Thisoperation moves the lens from the lock position to the wide extremity orthe zoom area to the macro position.

When the ZOOM FORWARD operation begins, lock position flag FLOCK iscleared (step ZF1) and at step ZF2, the zoom motor is caused to rotateat a high speed. The lens is then checked to ensure that it is in aposition between the wide extremity and the zoom area (step ZF3, ZF4).

If the macro command flag FRQMCRO (step ZF5) is set to 0, the motor isstopped and processing jumps to the MAIN operation. These steps move thelens from the lock position to the wide extremity when the lock lever isset to its OFF position, as shown by character "e" in FIG. 20.

When the macro command flag is set to 1, steps ZF7-ZF9 ZF9 areperformed, in which the operation waits until the lens passes the teleextremity in the zoom area. When the lock switch is set to ON, in stepZF10, the motor is stopped (as shown by character "f" in FIG. 20). Then,the operation returns to the MAIN operation. If the lens passes the teleextremity, steps ZF11-ZF13 are performed, in which the operation waitsuntil the macro position flag FMCR0 is set to 1, at which point themotor is stopped and processing returns to the MAIN operation. StepsZF11-ZF13 are executed when the macro button 16 is pressed and the locklever is in the OFF position (lock switch OFF).

According to the above discussion for the ZOOM REVERSE operation andZOOM FORWARD operation, all lens operations by the main switch 14 or themacro button 16 are performed by the zoom motor operating at a high rateof speed.

ZOOM TO TELE Operation

FIG. 22 shows the flowchart of the ZOOM to TELE operation that divergesfrom step MI42 of the MAIN operation.

This operation is executed by setting the tele switch TELE to the ONposition, with the lens set to the zoom area. It is common to theabove-mentioned ZOOM FORWARD operation that the lens is moved bynormally rotating the zoom motor. However, this operation is differentfrom the above-mentioned operation in that the zooming speed can beswitched between a high speed and a low speed.

When this operation starts, the zoom motor is rotated in a forwarddirection at a high speed before the timer for switching the zoom motorspeed is reset.

If the tele swich is set to ON, the lens does not reach the teleextremity (i.e., POS does not equal "3"). Thus, the lock switch is setto OFF and the motor is rotated at a high speed for 30 ms before therotation speed is changed to the low speed (if applicable). Otherwise,it remains in the high rotation speed, based upon the setting of a speedswitch.

In the zoom area, when the tele switch TELE is set to OFF, the operationis shown by the character "g" in FIG. 20. The operation when the lensreaches the tele extremity is shown by the character "h" in FIG. 20.

At the some point lock switch will be set to ON. When this happens, thezoom motor is stopped in step ZT11, so that control returns to the MAINoperation.

ZOOM TO WIDE Operation

FIG. 23 shows the flowchart of the ZOOM TO WIDE Operation that divergesfrom step MI50 of the MAIN operation.

This operation is executed when the lens is in the zoom area and thewide switch WIDE is set to ON. It happens in the above mentioned ZOOMREVERSE operation that the lens is moved in a storage direction.

When the WIDE MOVEMENT operation starts, the zoom lens is rotated in areverse direction and the timer is reset. However, if this operation iscalled from step ZR24 of the ZOOM REVERSE operation, these two steps arenot performed.

In steps ZW3-ZW10, if the wide switch is set to ON, the lens does notenter the position between the wide extremity and the lock position(that is, POS does not equal "0") and the lock switch is set to OFF, thezoom motor operates at a high speed for 30 as before it starts to rotateis the reverse direction, switching from the high or low speed, basedupon the setting of the speed switch.

When the wide switch WIDE is set to OFF, and the motor rotation speed isset to the high speed, the operation branches to step ZR14 of the ZOOMREVERSE operation to eliminate any possible backlash that may occur.(This movement is shown by character "i" in FIG. 20).

When the wide switch WIDE is set to OFF in the zoom area and theabove-mentioned 70 ms normal rotation and 50 ms reverse rotation arefinished, the lens comes out of the wide extremity, as shown bycharacter "j" in FIG. 20 and the zoom motor stops rotating.

When the lens enters the lock position from the wide extremity after themotor is set to the high speed in step ZW12, the zoom motor is rotatedin a reverse direction for a period of 50 ms (steps ZW13-ZW17). Next,the lens is set to the wide extremity and the motor is stopped (themovement shown by character "k" in FIG. 20), removing backlash, beforethe MAIN operation is re-entered.

When the lock switch is set to ON, step ZW18 is executed, which stopsthe zoom motor rotation prior to returning to the MAIN operation. Inthis case, the operation branches from the MAIN operation to the ZOOMREVERSE operation and the lens is shifted back to the lock position.

LOCK Operation

FIG. 24 shows the flowchart for the LOCK operation that is called instep MI24 of the MAIN operation. This operation is executed when thelens is stored in the lock position, after the lock switch is switchedto ON.

When this operation begins, the number indicator in the LCD is lit orextinguished, according to the condition of the loading end flag FLDEND(steps LK1-LK4), which sets the initial mode.

A programming loop, comprising steps LK5-LK13, is repeated every 125 msuntil the rewind switch REW is turned to ON, the back cover switch BACKis ON and the film is not fully loaded, or the lock switch is OFF.

In step LK13, the CHARGE PROHIBITING TIME subroutine is called. This isthe same subroutine called in step MI73 of the MAIN operation.

When the rewind switch REW is set to ON, processing diverges from stepLK6 to the above-mentioned REWIND operation.

When the back cover is closed and the film is loaded, steps LK9 and LK10are skipped, while when the back cover is open, the loading end flag iscleared (step LK19) and the indication of the frame number of the filmis turned OFF. In the next loop, when the back cover is closed,processing diverges from step LK14 to the above-mentioned loadingroutine.

Lastly, when the lock switch LOCK is set to OFF, the operation setscharge start flag FCHGST and the indication hold flag FWAITD to 1 (stepsLK14 and LK15) prior to returning to the MAIN operation.

As has been described above, if a subject to be photographed is too faraway when the camera is set to the macro mode, a release lock iseffected to prohibit photographing. As soon as the shutter button isreleased, the lens is shifted from the macro mode to the zoom mode,permitting a photograph to be taken without manually shifting the lens.

MODE SETTING Operation

Next, a mode setting operation will be described.

In step MI55 shown in FIG. 15, when FREWEND is set to "0", it goes tothe MODE SETTING operation shown in FIG. 25A.

In the mode setting operation, it is determined in step MO1 whetherFSWOFF is set to "1" When FSWOFF is set to "0" (when whichever switch isin its ON position), FMDCHG is set to"0" (step MO2). Then it returns tothe MAIN flow and goes to step MI58. In step MI58, it is judged whetherFMDCHG is set to "0". Therefore, when either of the mode buttons A or Band the clear button C is continuously pushed, it returns to the MAINflow via step MO2 and step MO2. Also, the mode set by any of the modebuttons (mode switches) A and B and the clear buttons, clear switch) Cwhich is continuously pushed is maintained and in step MI58, it isjudged that FMDCHG is set to "0". Then, the steps from step MI61 to theend are executed.

In step MO1, when FSWOFF is set to "1" (when all switches are in the OFFposition), it is determined whether the mode button A is in the ONposition (step MO3). In step MO3, when the mode button A is in OFFposition, it is judged whether the mode button B is in ON position (stepMO4). In step MO4, when the mode button B is in the OFF position, it isdetermined whether the clear button C is in the ON position (step MO5).In step MO5, when the clear button C is in the OFF position, the modechange flag FMDCHG is set to "0" (step MO2), and then processing returnsto the MAIN flow. Therefore, when all switches, i.e., photometric switchSWS, release switch SWR, wide switch WIDE, tele switch TELE, modeswitches MDA and MDB, clear switch MDC, and macro switch MCRO, are inthe OFF position, processing goes through steps MO3˜MO5 and step MO2 andthen returns to step MI58 of the MAIN flow.

If it is determined in step MO50 that the clear button C is in the ONposition. Then, the film number display process is carried out (stepMO6).

In step MO7, the counter memory MODEA is set to "0". Then, in step MO8,the contents of MODEB is set to "0". The identification flag FBB1INTO,the display lights-out process via flag FBIHOLD, and the displayblinking flag FZML01 are each set to "0" (step MO9). Then processinggoes to step M010 wherein, MODBLB is set to "0" processing them goes tostep M011 where MODINT is set to "5". Thereafter, the mode mark isdisplayed (step M012). Then processing goes to step M013 where FMDCHG isset to "1" before returning to step MI58 of the MAIN flow.Identification flag FBB1INTO is adapted to identify whether the manualshutter time is being set or the interval time is being set. The displaylights-out process via flag FBIHOLD is adapted to determine whether theprocess it should go via the display lights-out process.

Therefore, when the clear button C is turned on, it is changed to thefilm number display. Also, as the counter memory MODEA is set to "0",the exposure mode becomes "auto". Furthermore, as the counter memoryMODEB is set to "0", the taking mode becomes "one frame taking". Inaddition, as the counter memory MODBLB is set to "0", the manual shuttertime becomes "bulb". In addition as the counter memory MODINT is set to"5", the interval time becomes 60 seconds. When the mode is auto and oneframe taking, no mode mark is displayed.

Immediately after clear button C is pushed, flag FMDCHG is changed from"0" to "1". Therefore, in the step MI58 of the MAIN flow, it is judgedthat the flag FMDCHG is "1". By this, the flag FWAITED is set to "1"(step MI59). The loop-out process (step MI60) is carried out and thenprocessing returns to the top of the MAIN flow (step MI1). If the clearbutton C is continuously kept in the ON position thereafter (i.e., ifthe clear button C is being pushed), it is determined that the flagFSWOFF is set to "0" when processing goes again to the mode settingprocess of step MI57 (step M01). Then, the flag FMDCHG is set to "0"(step M02) and processing returns to step MI58 of the MAIN flow. Thistime it is judged, in step MI58, that the flag FMDCHG is set to "0" andthe processes after step MI61 are carried out. In the mode initializingprocess, the processes of step MO7˜MO13 are also carried out.

In step MO4, when the mode switch B is in the ON position (when the modebutton B is pushed), it is determined whether the taking mode is aninterval (step MO14). If it is judged as Yes when the counter memoryMODEB is set to "5" and then, it is judged whether the interval time isbeing displayed (step M015). When the display is not displaying theinterval time, processing jumps to step M021 and the flag FBB1INTO isset to "0". In step M015, when the interval time is being displayed, orin step M014, when the mode is not interval, the content obtained byadding "1" to the preceding content of the counter memory MODEB istreated as the content of this time. For example, if the precedingcontent of the counter memory MODEB is "2", the content of this timebecomes "3" (step M016). Then, of step M017 is carried out.

Therefore, if mode button B is turned on when the taking mode is notinterval or if the mode button B is turned ON when the interval time isbeing displayed, the taking mode is changed.

In step M017, it is determined whether the content of the counter memoryMODEB is "6" or more. This determination of step M017 is made forchanging the content of the counter memory MODEB to "0" when the contentof the counter memory MODEB is "6" or more. The reason is that thetaking mode corresponds to "0˜"5" of the content of the counter memoryMODEB and there is no taking mode corresponding to "6" or more. That is,if the content of MODEB is "6" or more, it is judged as Yes and thenprocessing goes to step M018. In step M018, the number display processis carried out. And then it goes to step M019. In step M019, the contentof the counter memory MODEB is set to "0". Thereafter, the process ofstep M012 is carried out. Therefore, the processes of step M017˜M019mean that the taking mode is changed to one frame taking.

In step M017, if the content of the counter memory MODEB is "5"0 orless, it is determined whether the mode is an interval (step M020). Instep M020, if it is determined that the mode is not an interval, theprocesses of step M012 and M013 are carried out and hen the processingreturns to step MI58. Therefore, the processes of M017, M020, M012 andM013 mean that the taking mode mark is changed within a range from thecontinuous taking mode to the multiple taking mode.

In step M020, if the taking mode is judged as an interval, theidentification flag FBB1INTO is set to "0" (step M021). Then, processinggoes to step M022. In step M022, the manual shutter or interval timedisplay process shown in FIG. 27 is carried out. In the manual shutteror interval time display (see FIG. 27), first, in step BI1, it isdetermined whether the flag FBB1INTO is set to "0". When the mode buttonB is in the ON position and the interval time is being set, as the flagFBB1INTO is set to "0", the interval time is displayed (step BI2 andprocessing goes to step M023. If the mode button B is turned ON when thetaking mode is on interval (when it is judged as Yes in step M014) andthe display is not displaying the interval time (when something else arebeing displayed), as processing goes via step M014, M015, M021 and M022,the interval time is likewise displayed.

In step M023, the mode mark display process is carried out and theinterval mark is displayed on the display. Display blinking flag FZML01is set to "0". Then a 0.5 second timer is started in order to performthe display blinking process (step M025). Processing then goes to stepM034 as shown in FIG. 26A. In step M034, it is determined whether theflag FBB1INTO is set to "0". As the flag FBB1INTO is set to "0" here,processing goes to step M038. Before describing step M034, there will bedescribed a case where the mode button A is turned ON (a case where themode button A is pushed).

When the mode button A is in the ON position in step M03, it is judgedwhether the exposure mode is bulb or bulb & stroboscope ON (step M026).In step M026, when the exposure mode is bulb or bulb stroboscope is ON,it is determined whether the display is displaying the manual shuttertime (step M027). When the display is not displaying the manual shuttertime in step M027, processing jumps to step M033 and the flag FBB1INTOis set to "l". When the display is displaying the manual shutter time instep M027, or when the exposure mode is not bulb or bulb stroboscope ON,the content of the counter memory MODEA, obtained by adding "1" to thepreceding content of the counter memory MODEA is treated as the contentof this time of the counter memory MODEA. For example, when the contentof the counter memory MODEA is "5", the content of this time of thecounter memory becomes "6" (step M028).

Processing then goes to step M029. By this, if the mode button A isturned ON when the exposure mode is not bulb or bulb stroboscope is, orwhen the display is displaying the manual shutter time, the exposuremode is changed.

In step M029, it is determined whether the content of the counter memoryMODEA is "6=38 or more. The determination of step M029 is made forchanging the content of the counter memory to "0" when the content ofthe counter memory MODEA is "6" or more. The reason is that the takingmode corresponds to "0"˜"5" of the content of the counter memory MODEAand there is no taking mode corresponding to "6" or more. That is, ifthe content of MODEA is "6" or more in step M029, it is judged as Yesand the number display process is carried out (step M030) beforeprocessing goes to step M031.

In step M031, the content of the counter memory MODEA is set to "0".Then, processing goes to step M012. Therefore, the processes of stepM029˜M031 mean that the exposure mode is changed to auto. When thecontent of the counter memory MODEA is "5" or less in step M029, it isdetermined whether the exposure mode is bulb or bulb stroboscope ON(step M032). When the exposure mode is not bulb or bulb & stroboscope ONin step M032, the processes of step M012 and M013 are carried out andprocessing returns to step MI58. Therefore, the processes of step M029,M032, M012 and M013 mean that the exposure mode is changed within arange from the stroboscope ON to the exposure correction.

In step M032, when the exposure mode is bulb or bulb & stroboscope ON,the flag FBB1INTO is set to "1" (step M033). Thereafter, the manualshutter or interval time display, shown in FIG. 27, is carried out instep M022. In the manual shutter or interval time display (step BI1), itis determined whether the flag FBB1INTO is "0". When the mode button Ais in the ON position and the manual shutter time is set, as the flagFBB1INTO is set to "1", the manual shutter time is displayed (step B13)and processing returns to step M023. If the mode button A is turned onwhen the exposure mode is bulb or bulb & stroboscope is ON and themanual shutter time is not being displayed, as processing goes via stepsM026, M027, M033 and M022, the manual shutter time is likewisedisplayed. Then, the mode mark process is carried out in step M023.Thereafter, in step M024, the display blinking flag FZML01 is set to"0", a 0.5 second timer is started (step M025) and processing goes tostep M034 as shown in FIG. 26A.

Next, the processes after step M034 will be described.

Suppose that the mode button A is turned ON and the flag FBB1INTO is setto "0". Then, it is judged that the flag FBB1INTO is set to "1" in stepM034 and processing goes to step M035. In step M035, it is determinedwhether the mode button A is in the ON position. When the mode button Ais in the OFF position, the blinking of the manual shutter time displayis canceled (step M037). Then, the flag FMDCHG is set to "1" (step M039)and processing goes to step MI58 of the MAIN flow. In step MI58, as theflag FMDCHG is set to "1", the display is continuously displaying theone second manual shutter time (see step MI59, MI67 and MI66). Then, themode button B is turned ON and when the flag FBB1INTO is set to "0", itgoes to step M036. When the mode button B is in the OFF position in stepM036, the blinking of the interval time display is canceled (step M040)and processing goes to step M039. The flag FMDCHG is set to "1" in stepM039 and then the process of step MI58 of the MAIN flow is carried out,

In step MI58, as the flag FMDCHG is set to "1", process goes to stepMI59. By this, the display keeps displaying the one second interval time(see step MI58, MI67 and MI66).

The blinking of the manual shutter time display and the blinking of theinterval time will now be described.

When the mode button A is in the ON position in step M035, or when themode button B is in the ON position in step M036, the charging stopprocess is carried out (step M042). The charging stop process isperformed in order to avoid the continuation of charging when it goesinto the processes after step M042 during the charging. After theprocess of step M042 is performed, it is determined whether the teleswitch TELE is in the ON position (step M043). When the tele switch TELEis in the ON position, it is determined whether the flag PBB1INTO is setto "1" (step M056). When the tele switch TELE is in the OFF position, itis determined whether the wide switch WIDE is in the ON position (stepM044).

When the wide switch WIDE is in he OFF position in step M044, the timedisplay blinking process shown in FIG. 28 is carried out (step M044').In the time display blinking process, it is determined whether the 0.5second timer is timed up. When the 0.5 second timer is not timed up,processing returns to step M034 and the processes after step M034 arecarried out. When the mode button A or the mode button B is keptdepressed, processing comes back again to step TD1 via step M043, M044,and M044'. When the 0.5 second timer is timed up in step TD1, the 0.5second timer is started again in step TD2. Then, it is determined flagFZML01 is set to "0" (step TD3).

At first, as the flag FZML01 is set to "0" in step M024, the flag FZML01is set to "1" (it goes to step TD4) before going to step TD5. Todetermine whether the flag FBIHOLD is set to "0". At first, as the flagFBIHOLD is set to "0", the display does not display the time (step TD6).Processing again reaches step TD1 where the display keeps displaying notime until the 0.5 second timer is timed up. When the 0.5 second timeris timed up, processing goes to step TD2 to start the 0.5 second timeragain.

Thereafter, processing goes to step TD3 where it is determined whetherthe flag FZML01 is set to "0". As the flag FZML01 was set to "0" whenthe processing goes via step TD4, step TD5 and TD6, it goes to step TD7this time. In step TD7, the flag FZML01 is set to "0", and then it goesto step TD8. In step TD8, the display B indicates the manual shutter orinterval time. Therefore, when the mode button A or the mode button B iskept depressed, the manual shutter or interval time is blinked at a rate1Hz.

In step M044, when the wide switch WIDE is in the ON position,processing goes to step M045. Therefore, the time display blinkingprocess is not carried out, and the display does not display theblinking of the manual shutter or interval time. In step M045, it isdetermined whether the flag FBB1INTO is set to "1". When the flagFBB1INTO is set to "1" in step M045, a value is obtained by deducting"1" from the preceding content of the counter memory MODBLB is treatedas the content of this time of the counter memory MODBLB (step MO46).For example, when the preceding content of the counter memory MODBLB is"6", the content of the counter memory MODBLB becomes "5". Thereafter, aprocess of this counter memory MODBLB min. is carried out (step M047).The limiting counter memory MODBLBmin is a process for setting thecontent of the counter memory MODBLB to "0" when the MODBLB is less than"0". The reason is that there is no manual shutter time corresponding tothose less than "0".

After step M047 is performed, the manual shutter or interval timedisplay process shown in FIG. 27 is carried out in step M048. After themanual shutter or interval time display process is finished, a 300 mstimer is started (step M049). Thereafter, a determination is made as towhether the wide switch WIDE is in the ON position (step M050). When thewide switch WIDE is in the OFF position, the flag FBIHOLD is set to "1"(step M051) and the processes after step M034 are carried out. When thewide switch WIDE is in the ON position, it is judged whether the speedswitch-over switch ZMHL is in the ON position (step MOS52).

By this, it is determined whether the switching of the display of themanual shutter time or interval setting time is changed step by step orthe same is changed continuously.

That is, when the zoom lever is in a state corresponding to thedirection where the zoom lens is moved towards the wide position at ahigh speed by the zoom lens lever (when the zoom lever is largely movedfrom the center position), it is judged whether the 300 ms timer hastimed up (step M053).

This loop, comprising step M050, step M052 and step M053 is repeateduntil the 300 ms timer has been reached. When the 300 ms timer isreached in step M053, processing goes to step M044, where the stepsM044˜M053 are repeated. By this, the content of the counter memoryMODBLB is subtracted every 300 ms. That is, the manual shutter time orinterval time is continuously changed.

When the zoom lever is in a state corresponding to the direction wherethe zoom lens is moved towards the wide position at a low speed by thezoom lever (when the zoom lever is moved a little from the centerposition), the loop comprising steps M050 and M052 is repeated until thewide switch is turned OFF in step M050. Therefore, although the contentof the counter memory MODBLB is changed immediately after the wideswitch WIDE is brought to the ON position from the OFF position, thecontent of the counter memory MODBLB is not changed thereafter.Therefore, if the zoom lever 10 is lightly operated to repeat the ON andOFF operation of the wide switch WIDE, while the mode button A or modebutton B is depressed, the manual shutter time is changed step by step.

In step M045, when the flag FBBINTO is set to "0", the content of thecounter memory MODINT obtained by deducing "1" from the precedingcontent of the counter memory MODINT (step M054). Then, a limit processof the MODINTmin is carried out in step M055. The MODINTin process setsthe content of the counter memory MODINT to "0" when the content of thecounter memory MODINT is "0" or less. The reason is that there is nointerval time corresponding to "0" or less. The processes of stepMO48˜M053 are continuously carried out. Because the deduction process ofthe interval time, is carried out in the same manner as the deductionprocess of the manual shutter time, the detail thereof will be omitted.

When the mode button A or the mode button B is kept depressed to changethe manual shutter time or interval time and the wide switch WIDE isturned OFF, the flag FBIHOLD is set to "1" (step M051) and as long asthe mode button A or the mode button B is turned OFF, the processes ofstep M043, M044 and M044' are executed and the process reaches the timedisplay blinking process. Since the process judges that the flag FBIHOLDis set to "1" in step TD5, the process goes to step TD9. Therefore,immediately after a desired manual shutter or interval time is finallyobtained, the finally obtained manual shutter time or interval timeremains displayed on the display for a predetermined time. That is, thedisplay does not display the blinking of the manual shutter or intervaltime immediately. If the mode button A or the mode button B is keptdepressed thereafter, the display displays the blinking of the manualshutter time or the interval time. In step TD9, the flag FBIHOLD is setto "0".

In step M043, when the tele switch TELE is in the ON position,processing goes to step M056. When the flag FBB1INTO is set to "1", anadding process is carried out such that a new value is obtained byadding "1" to the preceding content of the counter memory MODBLB (stepM057). Afterwards, a the limit setting process MODBLBmax is carried out(step M058), and the process goes to the manual shutter or interval timedisplay to display the manual shutter or interval time. Thereafterprocessing goes to step M060 to start the 300 ms timer before going tostep M061 to judge whether the tele switch TELE is in the ON position.When the tele switch TELE is in the ON position, processing goes to stepM063 to judge whether the velocity switch-over switch ZMHL is in the ONposition. When the zoom lever is in a state corresponding to thedirection where the zoom lens is moved towards the tele position at alow speed by the zoom lever (when the zoom lever is moved a little fromthe center position), the loop comprising step M061 and step M063 isrepeated. When the zoom lever is in a state corresponding to thedirection where the zoom lens is moved towards the tele position at ahigh speed by the zoom lever, processing goes to step M064 to judgewhether the 300 ms timer is timed up. The processes of step M061˜M064are repeated until the 300 ms timer is timed up. When the 300 ms timeris timed up in step M064, the loop after step M043 and M056 is repeatedvia step M043. As the process when the tele switch TELE is in the ONposition is the same as the process when the wide switch WIDE is in theON position except that the manual shutter or interval time is subjectedto a reduction process when the wide switch WIDE is in the ON positionbut the same is subjected to an addition process when the tele switchTELE is in the ON position, the detailed description thereof will beomitted.

AEAF(AUTO EXPOSURE AND AUTO FOCUS) CONTROL Operation

FIGS. 29 to 31 show the flowcharts for the AEAF CONTROL Operation thatdiverges from the MAIN Operation at step MI65.

This operation is executed when a photometric switch SWS changes fromOFF to ON, and a combination of the modes is correct. Also, thisoperation is executed from a terminal of AEAF CONTROL 2 after theoperation temporarily diverges a CHARGE operation during this operation,from terminal of AEAF CONTROL 3 after winding in a continuousphotographing mode.

In steps AF1 to AF3, when the operation diverges from a midway of AEAFCONTROL Operation to CHARGE operation and hen returns again to thisoperation, as the photometry operation and the distance measurementoperation are already finished, as will be described hereinafter, AEAFjump flag FAEAF is represented by a 1 in order to jump these operations.Otherwise the flag is represented by a 0.

When the operation diverges from the MAIN Operation, the operationfollows the state of the auto release flag FAUTOREL in the steps AF4 andAF5. If the auto release flag FAUTROREL is 0, the focal length isdisplayed. This flag is set to 1 at the time when the second shootingdownward in interval mode or the second shooting in double self mode areexecuted. In these cases, the photographing is automatically executedeven if the photometric switch SWS and the release switch SWR are in theOFF position.

The voltage checking operation in the step AF6 measuring the chargedvoltage of a strobe condenser. When the voltage is a 270 V or more, 270V charged flag FFCH270 is represented by 1, and DGV is set by dividingthe voltage into three stages with reference to 315 V and 285 V. Thestrobe condenser is full charge at a voltage of 330 V, and the guidenumber of the strobe is determined in accordance with a full chargecondition. On the other hand, this camera is controlled such that thestrobe is emitted with 270 V or more, even if the condenser is not fullycharged.

Therefore, when the voltage does not reach 315 V, it is necessary to seta lower the guide number because otherwise, the exposure becomes underexposure. DGV is a parameter indicating the lowering of the guide numberdue to a fall of the strobe charged voltage. DGV is set to 0/4 at avoltage of 315 V or more, 1/4 at 285 V˜315 V and 2/4 at 285 V or less.

In the step AF7, the charge request flag FCHGRQ, which is establishedthrough an FM calculation, as will be described hereinafter is set to 0.

Steps AF8 and AF9 are performed to determine the conditions of theFAUTOREL flags. When both flag and FAEAF flag are 0, steps AF10 and AF11are executed.

This condition means not to be the interval mode or second shooting ofdouble self timer mode, and the AEAF CONTROL Operation diverges from theMAIN Operation or the WIND operation. In step AF10, the distancemeasurement data from the set CPU is inputted, and the LENS LATCH (LL)CALCULATION subroutine (see FIG. 32) is executed (step AF11). The LLCALCULATION subroutine is an operation for determining an amount to movethe taking lens to focus the taking lens according to the distancemeasurement data.

When at least one of these flags is equal to 1, steps AF10, AF11 areskipped. This condition means that the camera is in the interval mode orsecond shooting of the double self timer mode.

In this condition, LL data which were obtained in the preceding LLCALCULATION subroutine, are directly used. Therefore, when the intervalphotographing is executed, the focus status is the same as the firstshooting. When the interval photographing is executed, the photographeris usually away from the camera. For example, when a slightly movingobject is photographed, if the distance measurement is performed everytime the photographing operation is performed, it becomes out-focus whenthe object is moved away from the center of the screen. The reason isthat the auto-focus operation is executed by measuring a distance to theobject positioned in the center of the screen.

In steps AF12˜AF16, all procedures relating to photometry are carriedout, except for a case where the routine comes back to the AEAFoperation from a temporarily diverged CHARGE operation. In step AF13,the DX code of the film that is placed in the camera is input andconverted to sensitivity information Sv.

Then the division code DIV is alpha-converted in step AF14 for use in aFM (FLASHMATIC) CALCULATION subroutine to be discussed below, whereinthe alpha value comprises an amount of variation in a Full-Open ApertureF-number of the zoom lens positioned at the specified focal lengthposition, with respect to the Full-Open Aperture F-number of the zoomlens positioned at the WIDE extremity.

In step AF15, photometry data is obtained from the sub CPU, while instep AF16, an AE (AUTO EXPOSURE) CALCULATION subroutine (see FIG. 33) iscalled and AE data is calculated.

In Step AF17 the FM(FLASHMATIC) CALCULATION subroutine shown in FIG. 34is called and the FM data is set. When the routine comes back to thisoperation from the temporarily diverted CHARGE operation, the AECALCULATION subroutine is skipped. However, as there is a possibilitythat DGV has changed due to charging, the FM CALCULATION is executedagain.

After the FM CALCULATION subroutine is completed, step AF18 is executedto decide the state of the release lock, with reference to the FRLOCKflag. If flag FRLOCK is set to 1, steps AF19-21 are executed. Therelease lock is set in such cases as that the lens is located in thezoom area and the object is too near and that the lens is located in amacroposition and the object is too far. In these cases, as it isdifficult to obtain a well-focused photograph, a green lump is blinkedto give a warning to that effect in step AF19˜AF21. After thephotometric switch SWS is turned OFF. the red lamp and the green lampare turned OFF before returning to the MAIN Operation.

flag FRLOCK is set to 0, in step AF18 a determination is made as towhether processing is to be diverged for the CHARGE Operation. In stepAF22-AF24, when the charge voltage of the strobe condenser does notreach a predetermined value, and therefore a charge is demanded, theroutine is diverged to the CHARGE Operation of FIG. 35, under theconditions that the operating mode is not the interval mode or even ifthe mode is the interval mode, the photographing operation is for thefirst shooting. That is, in the second shooting downward of the intervalphotographing, even when the charge voltage does not reach thepredetermined value, the strobe is emitted by only the charged voltageand the following release sequence is executed.

In the INTERVAL CONTROL Operation, as is shown in FIG. 38, a chargecontrol is effected every time one photograph is taken. The reason isthat when the charge voltage does not reach the predetermined voltage inthis control operation, the voltage is not to be increased, even if thecharge control is executed again.

In steps AF25-AF27, the lens latch (LL) data is outputted to the subCPU, automatic exposure (AE) data for the shutter control is supplied tothe sub CPU and flashmatic (FM) data to be used for the strobe emissiontiming is provided to the sub CPU.

When flag FAUTOREL is set to 1 (automatic taking mode), a determinationof the lamp indication and status of the photometric switch and releaseswitch are skipped, and processing jumps to a terminal AFA in FIG. 30.When flag FAUTOREL is set to 0 (normal taking mode), in case the strobeis flashed based upon FM data in steps AF29 and AF30, the red lamp islit up and the process moves to step AF31 showing in FIG. 30A;

Step AF31 is performed to determine whether the green lamp indicatorshould blink or be continuously turned ON with reference to flagFGLMPEL, which was set in the LL CALCULATION subroutine. If flagFGLMPEL, is set to 0, the green lamp indicator is continuously turned ON(step AF32). Otherwise, the green lamp D blinks (step AF33).

The activation of the green lamp means one can take a photograph, whilethe blinking thereof acts as a warning.

In steps AF34 and AF35, the process waits for the release switch SWR tobe turned on under the condition that the photometric switch SWS is keptin the ON position. When the SWS is turned OFF, that is, when the fingeris removed from the shutter button, the red lamp and green lamp areturned (step AF34a) and the control operation is moved to the MAINOperation. When the release switch SWR is turned ON, the controloperation proceeds to step AF36.

In steps AF36˜AF43, the three second timer is started when the firstshooting of the interval photographing occurs. Similarily, a ten secondtimer is started when the first shooting is made in the self timer mode,or double self timer mode, and a five second timer is started when thesecond shooting is made in the double self timer mode. In the case ofthe second shooting downward of the interval photographing, as the timeris operated in accordance with the content of MODEB, as mentioned above,it directly goes to the time count operation of step AF44. When the modeis neither the interval mode nor the self timer mode, processing jumpsto step AF65, shown in FIG. 31.

Steps AF44˜AF54 constitute a loop for waiting for the above-mentionedtimer to be timed up. Besides the time-up, the operation can be escapedfrom the loop by means of the operation of a mode button. In this case,the red and green lamp and the self timer lamp are turned OFF in stepsAF55 and AF56 and the auto release flag FAUTOREL is cleared. Aftercalling the MODE INITIALIZATION operation of FIG. 25 (step AF56),processing jumps to the MAIN Operation. In the second shooting downwardof the interval mode, the remaining time of the timer is displayed.

When the remaining time of the timer becomes three seconds or less, theself timer lamp blends at a rate of 4Hz.

When the time is up, in the case of the self timer, processing goes tothe terminal AFC of FIG. 31 and in the case of the double, it goes tostep AF65 of FIG. 31 after the flag FAUTOREL is inverted (in AF59) inthe case of the double self, timer mode the flag FAUTOREL is set from 0to 1 when the first shooting is made and returned from 1 to 0 when thesecond shooting is made and the automatic photographing made isreleased.

In the case of the interval mode, the interval time established in stepsAF60˜AF64 is set by the timer, and the maximum value of the number oftaking frames is set to 40 frames when the first shooting is made andthe auto release flag FAUTOREL is set to 1 in order to automaticallyexecute the second shutting downward. When the second shooting downwardis made, the remaining time display is set to "0". Processing then goesto step AF65. Step AF64 is performed in order to prevent the displayfrom indicating numerical figures other than 0 when the to time is up.If this procedure did not exist, the display would not be set to "0"when the timer is up. For example, if we have a 100 second timer, thetimer changes as follows "100", "99", "98". . . . "1", "100", "99", . .. However, it is desirable that the display be set to indicate "0" whenthe shutter is released. Therefore, step AF64 is included to forceablyset the display to indicate "0".

In steps AF65˜AF67, the lamps are all turned off before the exposure isexecuted and he shutter start signal is outputted to a sub CPU. In stepsAF68 and AF69, a date exposure is prohibited when multiple photographingis effected.

If the mode is not the bulb mode, the operation diverges from step AF70and the input of a shutter operation finish signal from the sub CPU isconfirmed in step AF71. processing then proceeds to the WIND Operationof FIG. 37.

When the mode is the bulb mode, the input of the shutter start signalfrom the sub CPU is confirmed in step AF72 and it is determined in stepAF37 whether the photographing is the bulb exposure photographing or themanual shutter photographing. If it is the bulb exposure photographing,processing waits in steps AF74 and AF75 until the photographer 0 fingeris removed from the shutter button and both the photometric switch SWSand release switch SWR are turned OFF. Then, a shutter close signal isoutputted in step AF76. If it is the manual shutter, the MANUAL SHUTTERTIME COUNT subroutine of FIG. 36 is called in step AF77 and a shutteroperation end signal is output after counting operation is finished.

LL(LENS LATCH) CALCULATION subroutine

FIG. 32 shows a flowchart of the LL CALCULATION subroutine that iscalled from the AEAF CONTROL Operation at step AF11.

In the L CALCULATION subroutine, AF data(distance-measurement-information) is converted to the distancemeasurement step in step LL1, with reference to TABLE 4. Then, a limitprocessing, which limits the range for the distance measurement stepbetween "1 and 20" is performed. In step LL2, flag FGLMPFL, which judgesif the green lamp indicator D should blink, is set to 0. Flag FMTSIFT,which is the flag to determine if the taking lens should be shifted fromthe macro extremity to the tele extremity, is set to 0.

When flag FGLMPFL equals 1, the green lamp indicator D blinks. FlagFRLOCK being equal to means the release to lock. Having flag FMTSIFTequal to 1 means the operation of the lens should shift from the macroextremity to the tele extremity.

Then, step LL3 is executed to set a temporary lens latch LL value thatis equal to the distance measurement step value so that the number ofthe lens latch steps corresponding to the distance measurement steps canbe obtained.

In step LL4, a determination is made as to whether the distancemeasurement stop equals "1". When the distance measurement equals "1",step LL5 is performed to determine if the macro switch MCRO is ON. Whenthe distance measurement step is equal to "1" and the macro switch isON, flags FRLOCK, FGLMPFL and FMTSIFT are each set to 1 (steps LL6-LL8)before the LL CALCULATION subroutine exits and returns to step AF12 ofthe AEAF CONTROL Operation. In this condition, the release lock isapplied, even f the shutter button is pressed. When photometric switchSWS is pressing the shutter button 15, the lens is shifted from themacro extremity to the tele extremity. Then, processing returns to theAEAF CONTROL Operation.

When the distance measurement step is not equal to "1" or the macroswitch MCRO is OFF, even if the distance measurement step is equal "1",step LL9 is performed to determine whether the distance measurement stepis more than "19".

When the distance measurement step is less than "19", the subroutineexits and returns to the AEAF CONTROL Operation. In either the macromode or the zoom mode, when the distance measurement step is more than"2" and less than "19", the processing returns to the AEAF CONTROLOperation. Therefore, when the distance measurement step is "1" and thezoom mode is set, the release lock is not applied.

When the distance measurement step is more than "19", steps LL10 andLL11 are executed to set flag FGLMPFL to 1 and the lens latch (LL) stepto "18". Because only eighteen steps (from "1" to "18") are providedwith the lens latch steps, step LL12 is performed to determine whetherthe macro switch MCRO is ON. If the result of the test is affirmative,the subroutine quits and processing returns to the point in the AEAFCONTROL Operation from which the LL CALCULATION subroutine was called.This is because it is desirable to permit a photograph to be taken, evenwhen a subject is too close for an in-focus picture. However, as flagFGLMPFL has been set to 1, the green lamp indicator D will blink toalert the photographer of this condition.

If the macro switch MCRO is OFF (in step LL12), a test is made of thedistance measurement step to determine if it is greater than "20" (stepLL13). If it is less than "20", processing returns to the AEAF CONTROLOperation. Hence, when the distance measurement step is "19" in the zoommode, the green lamp indicator D blinks to warm the operator to switchto the macro mode. However, photographing can be performed by pressingthe shutter button 15.

IN step LL14, when the distance measurement step is more than "20", flagFRLOCK is set to 1 before processing returns to the AEAF CONTROLOperation. When the distance measurement step is more than "20", anin-focus photograph cannot be obtained, even if the photograph is takenin the zoom mode. Therefore, the camera is programmed to prevent thetaking of such a picture, even if the shutter button is pressed.Accordingly, when the subroutine executes steps LL13 and LL14, therelease lock is applied, and the green lamp indicator D blinks. When theLL CALCULATION subroutine is completed, processing returns to the AEAFCONTROL subroutine to perform step AF6.

In the normal photographing mode(zoom mode), even though the releaselock is applied, the operator can take a picture if the macro switch setto ON. However, in the macro mode, if the release lock is applied. Theoperator can not take a picture in any way. It is desirable to permit aphotograph to be taken under the above condition if the operator wishesto. Therefore, when the macro switch MCRO is set to ON, the release lockis not applied, even when a subject is too close for an in-focus pictureto be taken.

                                      TABLE 4                                     __________________________________________________________________________                      Z00M         MACRO                                          CHANGING DISTANCE LENS FOCUS   LENS FOCUS                                     STEP                                                                              ZOOM   MACRO  LATCH                                                                              POINT   LATCH                                                                              POINT                                     __________________________________________________________________________     1                 1   10.00 m      WARNING                                       6.00 m 1.00 m                                                              2                 2   5.10 m   2   0.97 m                                        4.50   0.94 m      .            .                                          3  .      .      3             3                                                 .      .      .    .            .                                             .      .      .                                                                             .    .            .                                         16                16           16                                                 1.12 m 0.64 m                                                             17                17   1.09 m  17   0.63 m                                        1.06 m 0.62 m                                                             18                18   1.03 m  18   0.61 m                                        1.00 m 0.60 m                                                             19                18   1.03 m  18   0.61 m                                        0.90 m 0.58 m      (WARNING)    (WARNING)                                 20                LOCK         18   0.61 m                                        0.50 m 0.40 m                   (WARNING)                                 __________________________________________________________________________

AE (AUTO EXPOSURE) CALCULATION subroutine

FIG. 33 shows the AE CALCULATION subroutine call in step AF16 of theAEAF CONTROL Operation.

This operation establishes AE data to be outputted to the sub CPU.

In steps AE1˜AE4, the exposure mode shown in FIG. 8 is determined. If itincludes a bulb, the bulb is established to AE data in step AE5 and thenthe processing returns to AEAF the CONTROL Operation.

If it is a mode other than the bulb mode, the upper limit and the lowerlimit of the photometry value are limited in steps AE6 and AE7. In stepsAE8˜AE10, when the photometry value Bv is equal to the lower valuelimit, a photometry value lower limit flag FBVMIN is set to 1, but if Bris not equal to the lower value limit, it is set to zero.

In step AE11, the exposure value Evs is calculated from the filmsensitivity information Sv, photometry data Bv, and correction value αof the Full-Open Aperture F-number, according to the change of the focallength from the WIDE extremity.

In steps AE12 and AE13, when the camera is in the exposure correctionmode, a correction is made in order to obtain a brighter exposure, bydeducting 1.5 from the calculated exposure value Evs.

As described in the foregoing, as the interval photographing is usuallyeffected in the state where the camera is fixed to a tripod, etc., thereis no fear of a hand shake, even if a slower shutter than that of anormal taking mode is effective.

Therefore, in steps AE14˜AE17, the lower limit exposure value Evsmin isset to 6.0 when the exposure mode is other than the auto mode, or whenthe exposure mode is the auto and the taking mode is the interval.Similarly, Evsmin is set to 9.0 when the exposure mode is auto and thetaking mode is other than the interval mode.

If the exposure value Evs is smaller than the exposure lower limit valueEvsmin in step AE18˜AE21, when the exposure mode is the auto mode or thephotometric value is limited at its lowest limit, the automatic strobeemission flag FAUTOSTB is set to 1, so as to emit the strobe light.

Accordingly, if it is not established to the interval mode, the lowerlimit of the shutter speed is lowered automatically and the chance foremitting the strobe becomes small.

In steps AE22˜AE24, the upper and lower limits of the exposure value Evsare limited and the same is returned to AEAF CONTROL Operation byserving the same as AE data.

FM (FLASHMATIC) CALCULATION Subroutine

FIG. 34 shows the FM CALCULATION subroutine called in step AF17 of theAEAF CONTROL Operation.

This operation decides the emission or nonemission of the strobe and theaperture value Avs when the strobe is emitted.

In steps FM1˜FM5, the exposure mode returns the FM data to the AEAFCONTROL Operation as "strobe-no emission" when in the strobe OFF mode,exposure compensation mode, and bulb mode, or when in auto mode and theflag FAUTOSTB is set to 0 in the AE CALCULATION subroutine.

In cases other than the above, the aperture value AVs is found from thedistance measurement data and the reference guide number in step FM6 andthen the aperture value Avs is corrected in view of the information ofthe charged voltage DGV in step FM7 the reason is that as the guidenumber is established with reference to the full charge time of thestrobe condenser, unless the guide number is lowered when the exposureis low, the exposure becomes under-exposed.

In step FM8, the aperture value Avs is added with the film sensitivityinformation Sv and in steps FM9 and FM10, the changing amount ZGDV,caused by zooming of the strobe itself, is added when it is in the zoomarea. The reason is that a light projecting angle of the strobe 6 ischanged according to an angle of view which is changed by the zooming ofthe taking lens.

Furthermore, in FM11, the changing amount α of the Full-open ApertureF-number based on the focal length of the lens is deducted from theaperture value Avs.

In steps FM12˜FM14, the upper limit and the lower limit of the aperturevalue Avs are limited and the charge request flag FCHGRQ is set to 1,based on the result of the voltage check operation called in step AF6 ofthe AEAF CONTROL Operation when the voltage of the strobe condenser is270 V or less. Processing is then returned to the point from which thissubroutine was called.

CHARGE OPERATION

FIG. 35 shows the charging operation that diverges from steps AF23 andAF24 of the AEAF CONTROL Operation.

Steps CH1˜CH9 form a loop for repeatedly executing the charging controlat a cycle of 125 ms. The operation can be escaped from the loop when itis determined that the time is up or the strobe is to be charged to avoltage of 280 V or more from the charge time up flag FCHTUP and 280 Vcharged flag FCH280 erected during the charge control operation in stepCH6.

In the case of an automatic photograph in an interval mode, etc.,processing can be escaped to step CH10 by turning on a selected one ofthe mode switches (mode button A, mode button B and clear button C, whenthe mode is not an automatic photograph processing can be escaped whenthe operator's finger is removed from the shutter button.

Even when the charged voltage does not reach 280 V within apredetermined time and the timer is up, processing can can be escapedfrom the charging operation. In such a case, escape, the red and greenlamps are turned OFF (steps CH10˜CH12) and a charging stop operation iseffected. Thereafter, processing jumps to the MAIN Operation.

When the charged voltage reaches 280 V before the timer is up,processing goes to steps CH14˜CH16, via step CH13 where the red lamp isilluminated 18 when the mode is not the automatic photographing mode, soas to indicate that the preparation for a strobe emission is over. Aftercharge request flag FCHGRQ is cleared, processing jumps to the AEAFcontrol 2. When processing enters to the AEAF control from thisoperation, as described above, the photometry, distance measurement,etc. are omitted and calculation is effected using the preceding data.

The voltage checking at the time when the charging is undergoing iseffected with reference to 280 V and the voltage checking after chargingoperation is effected with reference to 270 V. The reason is that avoltage drop, due to the stopping of the charging operation, noise, etc.are taken into consideration.

MANUAL SHUTTER TIME COUNT subroutine

FIG. 36 shows the MANUAL SHUTTER TIME COUNT subroutine called in stepAF77 of the AEAF CONTROL Operation.

When the manual shutter is established, the shutter speed can be changedin accordance with the correlation of Table 2. At this time, as theaperture is controlled in such a manner as to be full opened, theexposure is decided by the shutter speed and the Full-open ApertureF-number.

However, such established shutter speed is decided with reference to theFull-open Aperture F-number when the taking lens is set to the WIDEextremity, and when the focal length of the lens is changed, the sameexposure cannot be obtained at the same shutter speed.

In view of the above, therefore, in this camera, the shutter speed,which has been established with reference to the WIDE extremity iscontrolled such that the shutter speed is again established inaccordance with the focal length of the lens in order to obtain the sameexposure.

The correlation of the re-establishment is as shown in FIG. 5. In theTable, α denotes the changing amount of the Full-open Aperture F-number,and D1 denotes the content n(1˜7) of the MODBLB, and D2 denotes thedisplay on the LCD panel.

                  TABLE 5                                                         ______________________________________                                                                            UNIT:SECOND                               WIDE       ←        α                                                                             →                                                                           TELE/MACRO                                D1  D2     1/4     2/4  3/4  4/4   5/4  6/4   7/4                             ______________________________________                                        1   1      1       1.25 1.5  1.75   2   2.25  2.5                             2   2      2       2.5  3    3.5    4   4.5   5                               3   4      4       5    6    7      8   9     10                              4   8      8       10   12   14    16   18    20                              5   15     16      20   24   28    32   36    40                              6   30     32      40   48   56    64   72    80                              7   60     64      80   96   112   128  144   160                             ______________________________________                                    

The shutter speed shown in Table 5 is decided in accordance with thefollowing relation:

    shutter speed=0.25×2(n-1)×(4α+3)

The flowchart of FIG. 36 counts this shutter speed.

In FIG. 36, steps MS1˜MS5 are a procedure for finding 2(n-1) and puttingthe same into Tn. A product of Tn, found by this and Tα found in stepMS6 is found in step MS7, and this value is set in the counter MTCNT.

Steps MS8˜MS10 are a loop for deducting the value of the counter MTCNTat a cycle of 250 ms. By counting until MTCNT becomes equal to 0, theshutter speed decided by the above relation can be counted.

In this way, as the shutter speed is re-established such that theexposure value becomes constant, even if the focal length is changed, itis not necessary to re-establish the shutter speed every time the focallength is changed.

WIND OPERATION

FIG. 37 shows a wind operation to which processing goes after the AEAFCONTROL Operation is finished.

The wind operation is a procedure for winding the film by one frameafter the photographing operation is finished. When processing beginsthe wind operation, the frame number is displayed on the LCD panel,excluding the interval mode in steps WD1 and WD2. In the case of amultiple photographing operation, the operation diverges from step WD3to step WD4, where the taking mode is returned to the one frame takingmode. Processing then jumps to the MAIN Operation. That is, the multiplephotographing operation is cleared per each shooting.

When the taking mode is other than the multiple photographing mode, oneframe is wound in step WD5. If the winding operation is not finishedwithin a predetermined time, processing diverges from step WD6 to stepWD7 where the auto release flag FAUTOREL is cleared before processinggoes to the wind operation, as described above.

When the winding operation is finished, the frame number counter isincremented in step WD8, and a new number is displayed in steps WD9 andWD10 when the mode is not the interval mode. In this way, the framenumber is not displayed when the mode is the interval mode. Rather, aremaining time available until the releasing operation is displayedduring the interval photographing operation, as will be describedhereinafter.

In steps WD11˜WD15, a diverging destination after the winding operationis decided in accordance with the established photographing mode.

When the camera is in a continuous photographing mode and the shutterbutton is kept depressed, processing jumps to AEAF control 3 of FIG. 29to continue the exposing sequence. If the shutter button is notdepressed processing jumps to the MAIN Operation.

Next, when the camera is in the double self mode, processing jumps theAEAF control at the point in time when the first shooting is finished.Processing then jumps to the MAIN Operation when the second shooting isfinished.

When in the interval mode, processing jump to the INTERVAL CONTROLOperation of FIG. 38, and jumps to the MAIN Operation when in any othermode, that is, when in the frame shooting mode or self timer mode.

INTERVAL CONTROL Operation

FIG. 38 shows the INTERVAL CONTROL Operation to which the processingmoves from step WD15 of the above-mentioned WIDE Operation. Thisoperation is a procedure for waiting while counting time until thesecond shooting downward arrives when the photographing mode is set tothe INTERVAL mode. When the camera is set to any mode other thanINTERVAL, the operation is usually looped within MAIN Operation.However, when is in the INTERVAL mode, it is looped between the AEAFCONTROL Operation and the INTERVAL CONTROL Operation without goingthrough the MAIN Operation.

When it enters into this operation, both the charge request FCHGRQ andcharge request flag memory flag FCHGRQM are cleared in step IN1.

In steps IN2 and IN3, the INTERVAL number is decreased and adetermination is made as to whether it becomes equal to 0. The initialvalue of this count is 40 as set in step AF62 of the AEAF CONTROLOperation. When the 40 frames are finished, it executes the charge stopoperation and the auto release flag FAUTOREL is cleared in stepsIN4˜IN6. Thereafter the MODE INITIALIZING Operation of FIG. 25 iscalled, and processing jumps to the MAIN Operation.

When the count number is not equal to zero frames, processing loopsthrough steps IN7˜IN21, at a cycle of 125 ms and waits for the nextphotographing operation. In the meantime, when either the mode switch orthe clear switch is turned ON, it initializes the mode and jumps to theMAIN Operation.

When in this loop, the deduction display of the timer is normallyperformed. However, when the photometric switch SWS is turned ON, theframe number is displayed. when the wide switch of the zoom is turned ONthe focal length is displayed.

When the remaining time becomes 16 seconds or less, both FCHGRQ andFCHGRQM are set to 1 in step IN18. This timer is set and started in stepAF60 of the AEAF CONTROL Operation.

In the charge control operation in step IN20, the charging operation iseffected when FCHGRQ is 1 and skipped when it is 0. This flag is clearedwhen the charging operation is finished.

Therefore, when it circles around the loop of steps IN17˜IN20, thecharging operation is forcefully started in the first loop. When asufficient charge is detected, the charging operation is stopped and theCHARGE CONTROL Operation is skipped from the next loop.

When the remaining time becomes within 4 seconds, processing divergesfrom step IN19, the charging operation is stopped and the remaining timeof the timer is displayed in steps IN22 and IN23. Then, processing jumpsto the AEAF CONTROL Operation of FIG. 29 and waits for the time-up insteps AF44˜AF54 of that procedure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronically controlled camera having a zoomfunction for changing a focal length of a taking lens and a manualfunction able to select a shutter speed by a manual operation when saidcamera is in a manual mode,said electronically controlled camera furtherhaving a shutter speed automatic changing apparatus for automaticallychanging said shutter speed in a direction for reducing a changingamount of a Full-open Aperture F-number which is changed in accordancewith the change of the focal length of said lens so that an exposurevalue becomes equal to a predetermined value in accordance with areference shutter speed at a time when said reference shutter speed isselected in said manual mode and said focal length of said lens ischanged by said zoom function.
 2. An electronically controlled cameraaccording to claim 1, wherein said shutter speed automatic changingapparatus includes:means for detecting said focal length of a zoom lens;means for calculating said changing amount of said Full-open ApertureF-number of said zoom lens from said focal length; means for calculatingsaid shutter speed from said changing amount of said Full-open ApertureF-number; and means for changing said reference shutter speed to saidshutter speed calculated by said shutter speed calculating means.
 3. Anelectronically controlled camera according to claim 2, wherein saidfocal length detecting means includes a cam plate mounted on a cambarrel for driving said zoom lens.
 4. An electronically controlledcamera according to claim 1, wherein said reference shutter speed isestablished with reference to said Full-open Aperture F-number when saidzoom lens is located in a wide end.
 5. An electronically controlledcamera according to claim 2, wherein said reference shutter speed isestablished with reference to said Full-open Aperture F-number when saidzoom lens is located in a wide end.
 6. The electronically controlledcamera of claim 1, wherein said camera comprising a lens shutter camera.7. The electronically controlled camera according to claim 1, saidcamera comprising a bulb mode, and wherein manual setting of a shutterspeed is effective in said bulb mode.
 8. An electronically controlledcamera having a zooming function and a manual operation function forselecting a shutter speed by a manual operation, said cameracomprising:means for manually setting a shutter speed as a referencevalue with respect to a predetermined focal length; means for memorizingat least one correction value for said shutter speed, said correctionvalue corresponding to the difference between said predetermined focallength and a current focal length; and means for changing said shutterspeed, set by said manual setting means, based on said correction valuefrom said memorizing means.
 9. An electronically controlled cameracomprising:means for manually setting a shutter speed; and means forchanging said shutter speed in accordance with a current focal length,so that an exposure value for which said shutter speed is set by saidsetting means, for a predetermined focal length, is equal to theexposure value for said current focal length.
 10. An electronicallycontrolled camera comprising:means for manually setting a shutter speed;and means for changing said shutter speed in accordance with the settingof a focal length.